Table of contents

1. Relevance of the judgments under examination for the purpose of defining the jurisdictional problems posed by eligibility for teaching the Catholic religion as a requirement for participation in an open competition - 2. Factual and legal elements underlying the appeals - 3. The two judgments compared. Contrasting interpretations: a) on eligibility. Current or historical requirement? Critical evaluations - 4. b) on the probative value of the declarations of the ecclesiastical authority. Decisive or irrelevant? Critical evaluations - 5. c) on the reviewability of the modus agendi of the diocesan Ordinary. Critical evaluations - 6. The partial implementation of the principle of mutual cooperation between State and Church sanctioned by article 1 of the Villa Madama Agreement - 7. The excess of power as an instrument that allows the Italian administrative judge to filter the canonical measure on eligibility. Rationale and limits of this interpretative option - 8. Further moments of tension between state and confessional order resulting from the central function of suitability in the new legal status of religious education teachers